Keith Jeffrey: Professor to pen official history of MI6
MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, which for most of its 96 years was not acknowledged as existing, is to be the subject of an official history. Professor Keith Jeffrey, of Queen's University Belfast, will write the history, to be published to mark MI6's centenary in 2009.
Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said it was "another progressive move by SIS", which came in from the cold in only 1994 when the government acknowledged its existence.
But any expectations that Prof Jeffrey, whose appointment was agreed by John Scarlett, "C" or the chief of SIS, and who as chairman of the joint intelligence committee was at the centre of allegations about the misuse of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, will disclose any uncomfortable secrets are likely to be dashed. The history will cover only from 1909 to 1949 "to protect information still considered to be especially sensitive".
The official history of MI5, the Security Service, is being written by Christopher Andrew, a professor at Cambridge University and expert on the intelligence services.
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Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said it was "another progressive move by SIS", which came in from the cold in only 1994 when the government acknowledged its existence.
But any expectations that Prof Jeffrey, whose appointment was agreed by John Scarlett, "C" or the chief of SIS, and who as chairman of the joint intelligence committee was at the centre of allegations about the misuse of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, will disclose any uncomfortable secrets are likely to be dashed. The history will cover only from 1909 to 1949 "to protect information still considered to be especially sensitive".
The official history of MI5, the Security Service, is being written by Christopher Andrew, a professor at Cambridge University and expert on the intelligence services.